There's more on recent rumors that Vivendi SA is considering selling off its stake in Activision Blizzard on Reuters, where they say that the French telecom giant had decided it will divest itself of the gaming unit. The report indicates that they are gauging interest from those with suitably deep pocketbooks: "Although a formal process has not started, bankers close to Vivendi are sounding out cash-rich trade players, including China's Tencent and U.S. duo Time Warner and Microsoft, as well as private-equity heavyweights KKR, Providence and Blackstone, banking sources said." Reuters got no comment responses about this from Microsoft and Time Warner. Thanks VG247.

In general, though, Vivendi is a company that's having significant issues. Why are they seeking to offload Activision?1) It's not core to their business. Yes, it makes money, but they're being pushed to focus on their core, which is not video games. This means offloading businesses that are distractions, even if profitable ones. Markets often push for this, which can have bad consequences, as offloading even a minimally profitable business, or minimally unprofitable one, can have huge repercussions2) Activision, being profitable, shoudl be one of the easiest for them to offload, as there are people out there that want it3) How do you get rid of liabilities? Paying them. How do you pay them without incurring new liabilities? Cash. How do you get cash? Selling something.